


Nick & the Grogach

by Baylor



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Fairy Tale Style, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 18:13:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baylor/pseuds/Baylor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A faerie tale for hobbit lads & lasses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nick & the Grogach

There once was a small hobbit named Ferdinich Brownlock, but everyone just called him Nick. Nick lived with his parents and older sisters in a very nice burrow, along with a number of aunts, uncles, cousins and various other relations. 

Nick tried very hard to be a good hobbit lad, but he always seemed to be getting into trouble. He ran through the burrow and knocked over a chair, which hit Great-Aunt Belladonna and knocked her over. He left the barn door open, and all the sheep and goats got out and had to be chased back in. He tried to carry three pies into the cellar at the same time and ended up dropping them all. 

"Oh, Nick," his mother would say after these things happened, "I don’t know what we are going to do with you." But she loved him very much, as did all of his family, so they always forgave him. 

Now, Nick was a very friendly and curious lad (as most hobbit children are), so one day when he was strolling along a ridge and saw someone walking through the tall grass of the meadows he decided to see who it was. Nick was still not very big for a hobbit and he could not see over the grass, and so it was that he was nearly upon this person before he realized it wasn’t a hobbit he was running toward at all, but a grogoch. 

All hobbit children know that a grogoch is half hobbit and half fairy, but not fairies of the pleasant variety. Grogochs are hairy, gnarled little creatures, and as their personal cleanliness is not the best, they are not very nice to smell. Most likely because hobbits have not been very welcoming to them over the years, grogochs have developed the ability to make themselves invisible to anyone they do not wish to be seen by. 

This grogoch was quite visible, however, as no one else was about and he had not been able to see Nick over the tall grass anymore than Nick could see him. So they stood and stared at each other in surprise for several minutes until Nick said, "Hullo, I’m Nick." 

Well, the grogoch was just delighted to have someone to talk to, for he was quite lonely. Grogochs like nothing more than to live with a nice hobbit family in a comfortable burrow, but they tend to cause more problems than even small hobbit lads do, and sooner or later the hobbit family finds a way to get them to leave. This grogoch had been without a home for several years, living mostly in a hollowed-out tree stump in the forest, but lately he had taken to traveling in hopes of finding a new family. 

The grogoch told Nick all about this, and it made Nick quite sad for him. Nick knew, of course, that one should never invite a grogoch into your home, as it is difficult to get rid of them once they have taken up residence, and the grogoch did smell quite bad, but he was very nice to talk to and did seem so lonely. "I shall just have to keep him in my room and remind him to stay invisible around everyone else," Nick said to himself. "He won’t be any trouble, I am sure." And so Nick invited the grogoch home. 

The grogoch liked this arrangement very much, and thought Nick’s room was just splendid. (Fortunately, Nick had a window in his room, so he opened it to help keep the grogoch smell from getting too bad.) That night, Nick slipped some extra food into his pockets for the grogoch, and the two of them stayed up long past Nick’s bedtime while the grogoch told the lad stories about all the lands he had seen. 

This arrangement worked quite well for several days, but then the grogoch thought that he ought to be doing something to help Nick’s family out, what with him having free room and board and all. So, being careful to stay invisible, the grogoch crept out of Nick’s room one day to explore the burrow. 

He soon found his first opportunity to be useful when he came across a basket full of laundry to be folded. The grogoch got right to work and soon everything was folded in neat stacks and ready to be put away. The grogoch was quite pleased with himself, and eagerly waited (still invisible, of course) to see how delighted the hobbits would be. 

He did not have to wait long, for soon Nick’s sister Mirabella came along. She looked down at the basket in amazement, and then immediately yelled, "Nick Brownlock! What have you done?" 

Nick came running to see what was the matter, and Mirabella pointed an accusing finger at the basket. "Nick, why would you fold all of these clean clothes with such dirty hands? Look at the smudges all over them! I will have to wash everything all over again!" 

Poor Nick did not know what to say, and was fumbling for an answer, when he spied the grogoch, now quite distressed and sneaking out of the room. "But it wasn’t me, Mirabella, it was the grogoch!" he exclaimed. 

"Grogoch!" Mirabella said. "We don’t have a grogoch, and you better not have brought one home!" And she picked up the basket and left in a huff. 

The next day, the grogoch vowed that he would do a better job at helping out. He sneaked out of Nick’s room again, and this time he came across Great-Aunt Belladonna busy at work in her herb garden, of which she was quite proud. She was vigorously pulling up weeds and the grogoch decided to help her out. He carefully sniffed a plant, and decided by its foul smell (to him, at least) that it must be a weed, and happily set to work yanking every bit of it he could find out of the ground. Great-Aunt Belladonna was facing the other way, so she did not notice the invisible hands pulling plants out by their roots. 

Once he was done, the grogoch sat down and waited to see how pleased Great-Aunt Belladonna would be. He did not have to wait long, for soon she came to the next part of the garden. She looked at the plot in amazement, and then immediately yelled, "Nick Brownlock! What have you done?" 

Nick came running to see what was the matter, and Great-Aunt Belladonna pointed an accusing finger at the plot. "Nick, why would you pull up every one of my lavender plants by the roots? Do you not know an herb from a weed? I will have to plant them all over again!" 

Poor Nick did not know what to say, and was fumbling for an answer, when he spied the grogoch, now trying to crawl unnoticed through a window back into the burrow. "But it wasn’t me, Great-Aunt Belladonna, it was the grogoch!" he exclaimed. 

"Grogoch!" Great-Aunt Belladonna said. "We don’t have a grogoch, and you better not have brought one home!" And she turned her back on Nick in a huff. 

The grogoch was most upset over how things were going. "If I do not find a way to be useful soon, this family will turn me out just like all of the others," he said. So the next day he sneaked out of Nick’s room again and went about the burrow grounds to see how he could be of help. It was then that he spied one little lamb that had managed to get out of the pen and was far away in the fields, unnoticed by any of the farm hands. The grogoch immediately set out after the lamb, saying to himself, "I certainly can bring one little lamb back to the pen without upsetting anyone!" 

He got to the lamb at the top of a knoll and picked it up. The poor thing was quite distressed that she could not find her mother, and so pleased that someone was here to take her home that she did not even mind how badly this strange creature smelled. But as the grogoch looked out from the knoll, he noticed that the land here fell off sharply, far above the stream below. He leaned out over the edge and thought he could spy a cave. This excited him greatly, for grogoch love nice little caves to live in, and unoccupied ones are hard to come by. The grogoch set the lamb on the ground and began to climb down to investigate, never thinking that the lamb might try to follow him down the steep bank. 

By now, the farm hands had noticed that the lamb was missing and had sent Nick to find it. Nick came up over the knoll just in time to see the lamb disappearing down the bank. He followed as quick as he could, for he knew the little creature would most likely fall to her death on the dangerous incline. Nick scrambled down the bank as best he could, and managed to catch up with the lamb and snatch her in his arms. But as he did so, he began to slip down the bank, and the two of them toppled head over heels and landed on a ledge. 

Once he had righted himself, Nick looked up in despair. He would never be able to climb up with the lamb in his arms, and if he left her here, she would most certainly wander off the ledge and fall to her death. He knew he was too far away for anyone to hear him, but he began to cry for help anyway. 

The grogoch had indeed found the cave to be most pleasant and unoccupied, and was quite glad to think he would have somewhere new to live if Nick’s family turned him out. He was chortling to himself with delight when he heard Nick’s cries for help. The grogoch ran out of the cave and immediately spied his friend on the ledge, clutching the lamb and very nearly crying. "Oh," the grogoch thought in despair, "I never should have left that lamb alone so near the edge. I cannot do anything without making trouble!" 

Fortunately, grogochs are splendid climbers, and he soon was over to Nick, who was so glad to see him that he hugged him, smelliness and all. "Grogoch, please climb up and go find someone to tell that we are stuck here," Nick said. "I would never be able to climb up with the lamb." 

The grogoch laughed. "No worry!" he said. "One thing I can do is climb." And he took the lamb from Nick, tucked it under his arm, and began to climb the bank. Nick was delighted, and happily followed him up. 

Now, one of the farm hands happened to be passing near the bank when he heard Nick’s cries for help. He called to the other workers and Nick’s father and they all came running to help. Nick’s mother and sisters and Great-Aunt Belladonna were working in the gardens (replanting lavender) when they heard the commotion and came running, too. So just as the grogoch was scrambling up over the bank, lamb in hand and Nick in tow, the entire household dashed up to the bank. 

"What?" cried Nick’s father. 

"Aeiii!" screeched Great-Aunt Belladonna. 

"I don’t believe it!" exclaimed Mirabella. 

"Why, Nick, wherever did you find a grogoch?" asked his mother (a most sensible and calm hobbit). 

The grogoch was quite overwhelmed and rather frightened by being visible to so many hobbits, whom he had not expected to find at the top of the bank. He shrank back, still clutching the lamb, while Nick tried to think of a way to explain. 

"And such a useful one, too," his mother continued before Nick could speak. "Thank you so much for saving our lamb," she told the grogoch, "and for helping our Nick up, too. I just don’t know what we are going to do with him. How convenient that he followed the lamb over the bank so close to your nice cave." (Nick’s mother, of course, knew all the land near their burrow very well.) And then she invited him back to the burrow for tea. 

Nick and the grogoch did not know how to tell his mother that the grogoch did not live in the cave, but had been staying in Nick’s room, so they just didn’t say anything at all. Nick’s mother served the grogoch an especially nice tea, and then packed him a basket of good things to eat to take home. She also gave him another basket with some clothes and bedding in it, saying, "I wonder if you would be so kind as to take these things with you as well. They have been taking up space in the linen closet for ages, and I just don’t know how to get rid of them. Perhaps you know of someone they could be of use to." 

The grogoch was delighted with his gifts, and was thinking so hard about how wonderfully they would go in his new cave, that he didn’t give any thought to the fact that Nick’s family was ushering him out the door of the burrow. "Now," Nick’s mother said, "you come and visit Nick anytime you want, though I know the two of you most likely would rather meet in the meadow and play together. Thank you again, Grogoch, for being such a helpful neighbor." 

Nick’s father walked the grogoch back to the edge of the bank, and then gave him an extra lantern for his cave as well. The grogoch soon had the cave made up as cozy as any grogoch could wish for, and went to sleep happier than he had in many years. 

Nick’s mother gave him a very thorough bath that night, and he noticed when he went to bed that the room smelled much more pleasant, like it had been aired out and some lavender had been brought in, and that he had fresh linens on the bed. "Oh, Nick," his mother said as she tucked him into bed, "I just don’t know what we are going to do with you." But then she kissed him hard on the forehead and ruffled his hair and he knew that she loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> What?! You've never heard of a grogoch? Learn about them [here](http://www.irelandseye.com/animation/explorer/grogoch.html).


End file.
